Movie Review - Knife in the Water

Knife in the Water (Nóz w wodzie) (1962)

Directed by Roman Polanski

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

This Polish film is inappropriately labeled as suspenseful, an adjective that doesn't fit it at all.  Instead, Knife in the Water is a character study focusing on two males -- one older and one younger and their efforts to win the affections of a young woman.  Perhaps had I gone into it knowing that suspense was not a key characteristic, I may have liked it a little more.  Instead, I can only accept director Roman Polanski's first feature film as a mediocre drama that isn't what I was promised it would be.  (Of course, in the end, that's not really the film's fault, but it's an inevitability that the film itself will take the brunt of the blame.)

Andrezj, an older guy maybe in his mid-40s, is driving to a marina with his young girlfriend Krystyna when he nearly hits a young hitchhiker.  Andrezj agrees to take the hitcher as far as the marina, but when they arrive at their destination, he sees an opportunity -- he'll invite the young man (who remains nameless throughout the film) onto the boat in order to show Krystyna that age has made him wiser than his younger counterpart.  Once out on the water with no means of escape, the hitchhiker realizes that he's essentially a pawn in Andrezj's game and it doesn't sit well with him, so he attempts to twist the game around a bit to prove that Andrezj may not be the best catch for Krystyna.

This has all the makings of a moderately suspenseful plot and the fact that it's directed by Polanski who is well known for some of his more mysterious directorial efforts made me think this movie would certainly veer in that direction.  It doesn't.  Instead, it's simply these three actors talking for ninety minutes (and, oddly enough, the Criterion Collection stream of this movie doesn't subtitle everything that they say which was incredibly weird at times).  Granted, I didn't dislike what they were talking about, but I never really feel like the film had any bit of dramatic tension...and I'm not talking about suspense when I speak of "dramatic tension."  I'm just talking about an arc in the story...that inevitable peak that all movies reach in which we know a resolution is forthcoming.  That never really happened here.  

Yes, it's well directed and shot (it takes place nearly all on a small boat and Polanski had quite a remarkable eye for good mise-en-scene even in his first film).  It's got a pretty great jazz score by Krzysztof  Komeda.  There's a remarkably sexy kissing scene that for some reason or other is one of the most effective cinematic kisses I've ever witnessed.  However, Knife in the Water doesn't flow like it should...instead it simply treads water for most of its runtime and for that reason I really can't recommend it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-